


Mistakes Made, Lessons Learned

by Laeirel



Series: The Cahill Vault [1]
Category: The 39 Clues - Various Authors
Genre: Also Refs/Spoilers to The Submarine Job, Alternate Universe, Refs to In too Deep
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 11:51:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18387890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laeirel/pseuds/Laeirel
Summary: For someone who has never been with a child for more than five minutes, Fiske Cahill tends to make a lot of mistakes. The good thing is he always learns from them, unlike some of his careless relatives.





	1. Fiske and William

**Author's Note:**

> AU where Fiske adopts Amy and Dan instead of Beatrice.

_They fought their way down the stairs. Daddy was in the study, throwing books on the floor."Get the children out!" he shouted._

_"Daddy!" she screamed. She held out her arms and he stopped for a second._

_"Angel," he said, "go with Mommy."_

_"No!" She sobbed as her mother pulled her away. "No! Daddy!"_

* * *

 Amy and Dan Cahill had been at the orphanage for a month when he found out. The man sighed, rereading the headline in the paper:  _Two Dead in Boston Fire_. Hope Cahill and Arthur Trent. Madrigals. Probably the most active members of the branch. Gray eyebrows scrunching into a glare, he read more of the paper's front page:

_One witness had recalled an argument between four people in the house, two being the victims, the other two unknown. Officers and firefighters have reasons to believe that one of the victims' guests had set the fire..._

The paper went on about how the guests had made it out of the fire alive, that they tried to help get the victims out, to which they refused. The man could practically hear his eyes rolling.  _Hope and Arthur were victims, that's true for sure. But not the victims of the fire, oh no. They were victims of other Cahills. Probably Lucians._ The man felt his heart sink as he read on to where the children had been put up for adoption under Social Services in Boston.

"William." The man said dryly to his sister's lawyer

"Yes, sir?"

"Book a flight to Boston. For tomorrow. Early."

"Are you going to see Madame Cahill?" the lawyer asked. "Yes and no." he hesitated before adding "I'm going to adopt those kids."

"Sir! You barley have enough space for yourself, mostly because you're constantly moving-"

"I'll settle somewhere, then. My sister's mansion in Attleboro, perhaps."

"Very well, then." The lawyer made a quick phone call, when he hung up he turned back to the man in black "Your flight is booked for six am, sharp."

"Good. Thank you."

The next morning Fiske Cahill woke up at four to get himself ready. He knew the airport was probably going to be packed, even if there was no vacation. Fiske reached for the phone on the counter in the kitchen of the small house he was staying in to call the only number he knew.

The dialing ring finally stopped. "Hello?" the voice on the other line said sleepily

"Grace-" his sister cut him off

"Fiske! Do you know how late it is?"

"I am aware, I just need your help."

"Go on."

"Where exactly is Social Services?"

Grace went silent, and Fiske almost thought she hung up before she spoke "I've already talked to Beatrice about Amy and Dan." Her voice was quiet, she was never expecting her brother to consider the two children.

"Well, reconsider. They aren't staying with Beatrice the Bloody." He snapped

"Now, now. Don't be mean, Fiske."

"Grace, please. The papers even say the fire was an accident! It was pure murder!  _Cahill_ murder! I can keep them away from it, the whole family situation! They'll never need a reason to know about the 39 Clues. They can be Outcasts, like me..."

"Fiske-"

"I already had William book me a flight for today." He interrupted "For Boston. Those children are not staying with Beatrice and that's final."

Grace sighed "Well then, if there's no changing your mind, would you care to tell me what airport you're at? I could pick you up."

"Boston Logan International Airport. It's a six-hour flight, I'll be there by noon or later."

"You sure you want to go through with this? I've seen how you react around kids."

"I'll be fine, Grace. I'll learn on the way."

"Okay, then. I'll be waiting for you. Goodbye, Fiske." They hung up after Fiske gave a hurried reply. It was now four-thirty and it would take him at least a half an hour to go through security. He cursed when he realized he could be late.

"William! We need to get going, now!"

"Right this way, sir. I had a feeling that something like this would happen, so I called a taxi." Fiske smiled "Thank you, William."

"Where to?" the cab driver asked "Airport, please. And fast. I don't like to be late."

* * *

 The airport wasn't as packed as Fiske thought it would be. Sure, there were your typical lines of security, but they didn't seem too busy. He put his suitcase on the baggage check assembly line and casually strolled over to security.

"Not much action today, huh?" Fiske asked the man searching him

"This is the usual "action" we see, not many people can afford to travel."

After what he decided was an awkward conversation with the security guard, he was now slinking through rows of seats, half observing the people on the flight until he found his seat by the window, C-39. Any normal person would've thought nothing of it, but Fiske smirked to himself.  _Oh, irony._

He decided he could use some more sleep after the plane took off, so he leaned on the window and drifted off.  _Don't worry, Amy and Dan, I'm on my way..._ While he was at peace with himself, William sat next to him, thinking in agony at how bored he was.  _How can he sleep through this? This is even more painful than the flight_ to _Poland! Now we're going back? I sure hope Mr. Cahill realizes that I cannot join him on every flight..._

* * *

 There was a slight bump, waking Fiske up and alerting McIntyre. The flight attendant reached for the phone that was hooked up to the speakers for emergency alerts from the pilot. "We're sorry about the turbulence, it appears there is a storm on it's way. Please don't panic, Boston is an hour away." The constant bumps and shakes of the plane were enough to make Fiske feel sick.

"Sir?" McIntyre began nervously "You're awfully pale, are you-"

"Excuse me, please, William. I would prefer to not throw up in my seat." Fiske was thrown forward as the plane lurched towards the left "Or yours." He quickly covered his mouth and forced himself to swallow. "Ugh."

"I didn't know Cahills were airsick."

"I'm not airsick, it's just the turbulence. If I was airsick, I would've been throwing up this whole time."

"Point taken. We should be in Boston in a half an hour, so please hurry." Fiske disappeared

 _This is somehow more exciting than the trip to Poland. Even though Mr. Cahill's stomach is upset._ McIntyre thought as the plane landed and the flight attendant's perky voice filled the plane once again.

"We're sorry about the issues during the flight and thank you for flying with LIA. We hope you enjoy your visit." The speaker crackled and shut off.

"Never again," Fiske moaned and reached for the hatch to the cargo hold and get his suitcase "I hope Grace is waiting for us."


	2. Amy and Dan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fiske brings Amy and Dan home from Social Services

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Headcannon: Fiske is a huge nerd and loves things like puzzles and space adventure shows.

The room he was currently in was cold, and the chair he was sitting in was starting to hurt. It had been a half an hour and Fiske was bored out of his mind. He had tried to listen to the social worker as she explained his niece and nephew's situation to him - he cut most of it out because he knew what was going on - she had gone onto how they were doing in the orphanage. Always sticking with each other, hiding in the corners or their room to get away from the other kids and they hardly spoke a word.

"So that's how they're doing. I would tell you more but they haven't done much." The social worker, Ms. Smith said with a small smile, "It really is an awful situation that they're in, I hope they feel better soon, Miss Cahill."

Grace smiled "Don't worry. I know my brother. He's a good guy and I'm sure there'll be no trouble."

"I've never really done this before s-so I really would like you to stay a few nights... hehe..." Fiske chuckled nervously to himself and blushed.

"Aww my baby brother!" Grace grinned at him, she wasn't a sap but the thought of her brother adopting kids - especially if they were his niece and nephew - made her heart melt.

"Grace!" Fiske groaned and looked away.

Ms. Smith chuckled. "I'll get them." She said while turning towards the door that lead outside to the playground.

Fiske and Grace both looked out the window. There were several children outside including Amy and Dan. They were sitting together watching the other kids play, not really wanting to join in. They only looked up when Ms. Smith called for them.

"Amy, Dan, your grandmother is here! Oh! And your uncle!" Fiske shuddered and Grace eyed him.

"What now?" She asked with a sigh.

"They wont remember me!" He half hissed, half whispered to Grace, "I visited Hope and Arthur two years ago. Dan was still a baby and Amy was too young to remember anything! They'll have no idea who I am!"

"Oh, don't worry about it." Grace smiled at him and then frowned, "You had so much confidence back then!"

"I was fourteen! And let's not forget the fact I was with a  _Vesper_!"

Amy and Dan had run inside when they saw Grace. "We'll talk about that later, Fiske. For now, let's get them home."

"Er, Grace?" His face turned to a serious and nervous expression.

"Oh, for the love of- what now?!" Grace turned and eyed him as she picked up Dan.

"I don't exactly... have a car..." He grinned.

"Well, we can worry about that later, right?" She paused and turned to stare at him. "What happened to your car?"

"Funny story actually. Let me tell you in the car." He turned and headed for the door, a nervous smile etched in his face as he let out a forced chuckled. "Oh, you're going to  _love_  this one!"

"And that's a hint that I'm going to hate it." Grace said as she helped Fiske with the children.

"Good luck!" Ms. Smith called after them.

* * *

 

Once they were in the car, Fiske started telling the story of how he lost his car.

"Weeeeelll... it was a normal day for me - all of them are hehe - and I was driving down the road with William to get to the airport when out of nowhere this black van just comes and smashes the back half of my car - I had, like, four payments left on it and they just had to mess it up -"

"Who was chasing you?" Grace asked. She could've pulled the steering wheel off if she wanted to.

"...Do you really want to know?" Fiske chuckled nervously.

_"Yes."_

"...Vespers."

"How?! If you're hiding, then they shouldn't know where you are!" Grace was almost screaming at him. Remembering that her grandchildren were in the back kept her from doing it.

"If I knew I would tell you! Although, now that you mention it... I keep getting a feeling that someone is following me around."

"Those sneaky Lucians." Grace growled, "They're the ones keeping tabs on you!"

"How are you so sure it's the Lucians?" Fiske asked as he got out of the car. "It could've been anyone!"

"I'm not too sure on that, but a few years ago someone hacked into the Madrigal system and accessed some... files on us." Grace unlocked the door to the mansion, Fiske was carrying a sleeping Dan while Amy followed her grandmother inside.

"I don't think they're interested in the family business." Fiske muttered quietly after hearing Amy yawn.

"Or maybe they're just tired." Grace hummed. "It's been a long day, everyone needs rest. Especially  _you_ , Mr. I'm Going to Go and Get Myself Caught By Our Family's Enemies. Oh! And get my car destroyed in the process!"

" _Listen!_ That was an accident! By the way,  _I_  wasn't the one who drove my car off a  _CLIFF_!"

" _That_  was a last resort." Grace growled and rolled her eyes. She looked down and saw a worried Amy, "We'll talk about this in the morning."

"Can't wait for another "I told you so" lecture." Fiske huffed. Dan shifted in his arms and he looked down. Tired green eyes stared back at him while Grace only glared at him. "Y-Yeah. I suppose it can wait until morning... heh."

Smiling at her triumph, she opened one of the doors to a bedroom. "I still don't see why you can't stay in one place all the time. The mansion is always here and it's not going anywhere. You know that."

"It's just... safer. Once in a while someone comes across my address and finds out who I really am, so I'm on the move before they can do anything to me."

"I highly doubt you were in that much danger, Fiske."

"Someone's butler was trying to kill me with a spoon!" He exclaimed.

Grace laughed and shook her head. She sat down on the bed with Fiske on her right and Amy and Dan slipped away from them to explore the room. "You're lying."

"I'm completely serious. This fancy couple invited me to dinner once and their butler recognized me when we met him in the dining hall. So instead of grabbing a fork or something that could actually do harm, he grabbed the spoon at the edge of the table!" Fiske laughed. "He then went on to yelling about how my name was Fiske Cahill-"

"What name did you use?"

"...John Smith." He mumbled.

"You Doctor Who loving nerd." Grace ruffled his hair.

"Ack come on! Grace, please stop! Grace! Stop ruining my hair!" Fiske whined.

Amy had scrambled back up on the bed. She held one of Fiske's old toys, a Rubix cube, and began trying to solve the puzzle that Fiske never did. Dan, on the other hand, found his stash of art supplies and was trying to get the box of crayons Fiske had shoved in the back of the drawer years ago.

"Looks like you're going to have fun with these two." Grace smiled.

"Oh boy. I actually forgot I still had crayons." Fiske said while examining the box. It was a bit worn down from being shoved in the back of a drawer for years but the green Crayola logo was still visible on it.

"I bet you forgot about your Rubix cube, too." His sister said while remembering his love of puzzles.

"Yes, actually. Just up until you sent me that keychain one for my birthday last year." He looked down at her. " _That_ was probably the worst puzzle I've ever solved."

"Even worse than iron solute?" Grace teased, remembering the Clue.

"We agreed to never speak of that again."

"Oops." She grinned before adding, "You might not want to move."

"Huh?" Fiske looked down confused, only to find a sleeping Amy curled up next to him, her head on his leg. Dan was trying to get back on the bed but Grace picked him up. "Well, this is certainly going to be interesting."


End file.
